Let it Fall, Let it Fall, Let it Fall
by Indigo Jupiter
Summary: She ended up gifting him something which was never intended at the first place. Reposted.


**I don't own atla, like ever.**

**Mai and Zuko are around 6 years old. Because yes, i have a soft spot for their childhood times. **

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** Chapter 01**  
** Let it fall, let it fall, let it fall**

There were reasons, not a reason why she hated the Orange color. It was too bright. It was loud. It made her cringe in discomfort. It reminded her of an ambiguity; the color couldn't decide what it wanted to be: red or yellow. So it got mixed up and emerged itself as an awful color. Oh how she hated indecisiveness as well, next to the said hue.

Mai wished she could tell all of this to her art teacher while glaring at a medium sized round orange pumpkin sitting on the top of her desk.

October just arrived. This meant two things; the fall season and the month in which the fire nation was born. To commemorate the latter one, a festival was held each year in the capital city. Stalls would be set up selling everything from artifacts of different kinds to delicious platters of food. There would be plays screened in theatres. There would be music. No dancing of course, but at least the tunes pirouetted in the air. Everyone would don fancy scarlet robes with gold embroidery. The night would end with a parade followed by a spectacular display of fireworks.

Everyone was expected to be fully involved in this. It was after all a grand event of an year.  
Their homeroom teacher suggested that they could participate in it by contributing something in the decoration department. Sewing pouches for keeping hard candies sounded nice. Making dragon masks would have looked cool or folding papers in the shape of mini lanterns for that matter…

"This year, we shall be Painting Pumpkins!" Their teacher announced.

'The what?!' the gloomy child asked inwardly, making sure she had heard correctly. She didn't have to wait long as the errand boy entered the classroom a moment later, wheeling the cart of pumpkins and putting one on each table.

"As you are too young to carve, we shall be painting them" the teacher explained "The pulp has already been extracted from them so you wouldn't have any trouble!"

What a shame; Piercing on the shell would have served its purpose as a perfect venting source for the frustration and irritation Mai was feeling right now.

"You can paint anything you want! Just this; it must represent our great fire nation!" the teacher threw her hands in the air for emphasis "Quiver your minds and INSPIRE!"  
The kids jumped in their seats at the sudden outburst. Their mentor was finding all of this too much exciting.

Mai sighed, picking up a paint brush and focusing on the hollowed fruit in front of her. Nothing. Her mind was blank. She was coming up empty.

Mai then glanced around, wondering what others were up to. Ty lee was painting orchids (the national flower) all the while humming happily. Azula on the other hand was attempting to outline a dragon. It didn't look anything like dragon. Mai decided to keep that opinion to herself.  
Some were drawing helmets the army wore while most of them opted for jewelry and ornaments.

Tapping the wooden end of the brush against her lips lightly, the girl pondered.  
'What represent firenation…..fire, royalty, fire, tea, fire, dangos, fire, turtleducks, fir…'

Mai's eyes widened. That's right. How could she forget?! Turtleducks were only found in the firenation right? She remembered reading somewhere that their habitat was warm tropical areas. And the state was one of those areas.

Seemingly satisfied, because the idea was doable, Mai dipped the fuzzy end of brush in a tiny pot of black color momentarily before withdrawing it and began to daub it on the curved surface of pumpkin skin.

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The class was now coming to end. But by now, Mai was done as well. She leaned back to admire her handiwork.  
A baby turtleduck was illustrated, its shell pattern marked by the silver lines, the black hue creating a deep contrast against the vibrant orange.  
It wasn't much but this will have to do.

"Awww!" Someone crooned behind her. Turning around, she saw Ty-Lee peeking over her shoulder, beaming from ear to ear.  
"Is it okay?" Mai couldn't help asking.  
"Okay?!" the braided girl repeated, incredulous "It's more than okay Mai. It's adorable! Now I wish I painted the turtle duck!" she pouted.

Mai smiled in response.

"Okay class! Leave the pumpkins as it is. We will pick them up in the evening. By that time the paint will dry as well; So for now chop chop!"

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The event turned out to be joyous, as per expectations. The houses façade were bedecked with flags while strings of lanterns went on for miles, illuminating the cobbled streets with a warm glow. A pleasant aroma of fried rolls and baked bread hung in the air. People stood in the lines for tickets of the show that was about to start in 15 minutes. Children raced in the streets, their hands clutching the sparklers that were emitting colorful flames, their pockets crammed with candies and treats. Shopkeepers shouted from their stalls, tempting the citizens to buy merchandise. In the midst of it, people talked, laughed and drank sake from the bronze chalices. The atmosphere was certainly infectious.

Mai along with Azula and Ty-Lee were sitting by the deck, nibbling on dangos all the while enjoying the sea breeze and the sight of starry skies. It was also the best spot for viewing the fireworks.

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Mai tugged on her ear lobes as she made her way towards the square where her parents were waiting. Sure the fireworks leave you awestruck with its bouquets of colors suddenly bursting into darkness, but for the ears they were bad. Mai swore she could still hear them cracking somewhere in the back of her head. It was rather annoying and a bit painful.

Still tugging, she looked up and saw Zuko. Mai paused. What was he doing here? And all by himself? Usually he was with his mom or Uncle when he wasn't away on voyage.

Zuko seemed distracted as he gazed around. Otherwise he surely would have picked her out easily from the crowd.

A pause for two seconds before the prince walked away, heading towards the right wing.

Mai bit her lower lip, contemplating. She had time. She can afford following him. And decided to do so, trotting after him, keeping her distance so as to not get caught.

Zuko didn't go far. He was now standing by the fountain where an array of painted pumpkins were arranged on its stone edges.

Mai frowned. Wait, those were the very same pumpkins they worked on this earlier afternoon. Was he going to smash them? She wondered.

He did so such thing. He just stood there, hands stuffed deep into his pockets.

'Maybe he's admiring the work…..' that was the only other solution she can come up with, aside from smashing of course.

Just then her homeroom teacher appeared in the picture, bending down to Zuko's height so she can talk to him.

Mai couldn't make out what they were talking. They were so far away. Though their facial expressions didn't indicate any negativity. Maybe he was really just appreciating the artwork.  
They conversed for like 5 minutes, before Zuko stooped down to pick something up from the ground. Turning around, she saw him cradling a pumpkin. _Her pumpkin_. Mai's mouth hung open in shock.

"Thank you Miss Yuna!"Zuko uttered audibly, looking like a kid who got its wish fulfilled. In a way it did. Mai hid herself behind the stone pillar just in time. When he turned around the corner, did she slip out from her hiding spot.

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Mai walked towards the square in daze, completely unaware of her surroundings. She was lost in her thoughts.  
She knew Zuko liked turtleducks. She had often seen him feeding to the flock of them whenever she visited Azula. She just didn't know the level of his fondness towards the said creature.

And yet she somehow attended to it by painting it on a pumpkin, unknowingly. Or…..

Maybe she knew about this all along. The tiny detail about him must have been hiding somewhere in her sub-consciousness and only came out when the occasion arose.

Mai then smiled; her cheeks and the back of her neck growing warm all of a sudden.

She gifted Zuko something which was never intended at the first place. After all who the hell gifts pumpkins?!

But for once she didn't complain.  
He was happy. And that was more than enough.

Perhaps Orange wasn't an awful color after all.

**The end.**

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**Let me know what you thought about this one! :D**

**Reposting it again because of my dumbass clumsiness and the drama which the story had nothing to do with :( oh well.**

**To the guest reviewer (who reviewed previously): THANK YOU so much for reviewing! :'D So glad to hear you like it! Mai is very generous when it comes to food. Girl shared fireflakes with her father,so I figured pumpkins are no exception to this xD  
As for writing more, can't say much. I just write about them whenever the inspiration strikes me :'D but but you are more than welcome to share any ideas or prompt with me. See if i can mix things up :'D **


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